07-19-2013, 08:36 AM | #301 |
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1974 MLB STANDINGS
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07-19-2013, 11:13 AM | #302 |
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1974 Career Leaderboard
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07-19-2013, 03:03 PM | #303 |
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1975 Off Season Mike Caldwell gets $106K in arbitration, not the type of money I'd like to pay my middle relievers. Mike Pazik gets $45K in arbitration, not the type of money I'd like to pay a long reliever. Fred Klages wants about $290K per year to resign. I don't think so. It's been fun Fred, find another team. Julian Javier is in the last year of his deal and wants a raise, heh. I'm not gonna give it to him but I fully intend to resign him after the season. I just don't see the sense in making a deal above his value when he could very well want less after the season. Lou Piniella is in the last year of his deal and he wants a decent amount of money. He's not cracking the starting lineup and we have a couple of minor league outfielders coming up who'll be ready next year so we may move him or let him play it out this year and then walk. McCovey signs a 3 year deal at $120K per season. It's a steep pay cut but still way more than he's worth, but I'm not letting him finish his career anywhere but here. McCarver signs a 4 year deal at $130K per season. It's actually a slight pay cut and he's 33 now but he's still productive. Rod Carew is a big conundrum. I give him a 5 year deal worth $91K per season. I think I may give him the 1B job over Luzinski. I get Mike Caldwell down to 4 years at $80K per season. Truth is he may be my best bullpen arm and could find himself at the front end of the pen sooner rather than later so I don't mind paying him. I get Mike Pazik down to 4 years at $40K, it's probably too much to pay him but whatever. I move RP Rick Henninger and 2 minor pitching prospects to the Giants for $24K. Rookie Jack Kucek is ready to be one of my short men. I send SS Bucky Dent to the Indians for $5K. We have a number of shortstop prospects that he's behind. Would have liked to have gotten more for him but that's probably based on the name than the actual talent. So we head into the season with two seasons that ended sooner than I feel like they should have under our belt. We're on a mission. I really think this is the year Raich and Lafayette can take a big step forward. They've each won the rookie of the year but now they have to prove they can be front line starters because Jenkins is 31 and John is 32, not ancient but they're getting up there and we need Raich and Lafayette to show the ability to be aces, because we've wiped out the minors pretty well. Our bullpen is top notch, so no worries there. Our minor league pitching depth and quality is really low. Graig Mitchell at AA is our only true front line prospect so it'll take us a few years to restock down there. Offensively I've made the decision to go with Rod Carew as my 1B against righties. He'll bat 3rd and Richie Hebner will move to the 5th spot behind Jim Rice. I just think this makes the lineup better even if we lose some power by putting Luzinski on the bench. The Bull will play 1B against lefties. Our bench is very strong. We are stocked in the minors with everyday prospects, both in quality and quantity. The problem is finding spots for them, but that's a problem I'd rather have than not have. 2B Bill Almon is probably a year away but I could see him supplanting the 2B job from Javier pretty soon and we have a couple of quality OF prospects at AAA in Jerry Martin & Horace Speed who likely wont crack our lineup but should be quality bench guys. Financially we're right on the cusp. We're losing less money, but we're still losing money and our coffers are dwindling without the resources to replenish them. I'm trying to bridge the gap between this generation and the next without a rebuild but it's going to be tricky. I have a lot riding on my two young starting pitchers and left fielder Jim Rice. Those 3 guys have got to be cornerstones for the next decade. Alright then, let's play some ball. |
07-19-2013, 07:35 PM | #304 |
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1975 Season April- We went 19-8 in April and hold a 1 game lead on the Cardinals. Matthews is getting on base at a .461 clip. Javier and McCarver are struggling. Mike Krukow is really having trouble, his ERA is 6.55. May- May didn't go so great. We're 34-22 tied with the Mets and just a half game up on the Cardinals. Our hitting has cooled off immensely. Hebner at .328 is the only regular hitting over .300. The pitching has been quite good though. I'm not overly worried right now as the top of our order had a super shitty month that I don't expect to repeat. Tim McCarver will miss a month with a bad back and Julian Javier is really struggling. It might not be long before we see our 2nd Baseman of the future in Bill Almon. June- We had a good June until the last week when the Mets, on a 12 game win streak, overtook us for first. We're 52-31, 2 games back. I forsee another down to the wire race with the Mets. Julian Javier broke his foot in the middle of the month and we waste no time in calling up Bill Almon to take over shortstop, probably for good. That doesn't last long as Almon breaks his collarbone within a week of coming up. We have another good prospect in Jorge Orta who can play SS & 2B, he'll come up and take over at 2B. In the draft, Dave Stewart went first to Houston. The Rangers took Tom Henke 2nd. Brett Butler went 4th to Milwaukee and Lou Whitaker went 7th to the Padres. July- Welp, Jim Rice broke his leg in early July, he's out about 3 months. That's a crushing blow. Luzinski takes over LF vs righties and Piniella takes over LF vs lefties. I'm very tempted to call up top prospect Horace Speed but I'm gonna give the veterans 1st crack at it. We end the month 68-41 and 3 games back of the Mets. Our pitching has been very good but none of our pitchers have been ace like. Our pen is really good. August- On August 27th we're 83-48 and tied with the Mets for 1st place. We also lose Richie Hebner for a month with a broken finger. Grrrr. We're going to make some changes. Bill Almon will shift to 3B, Javier will take back over at 2B and Rod Carew is going to the bench so the Luzinski can play 1B full time and we can call up and play RF Horace Speed. The power on this kid isn't here yet but the rest of his game is, I hope he can handle it. He'll play RF and lead off and Matthews will move to the 3 hole. Our lineup looks nothing like I imagined it would but we've got to put our best team out there and try and win the pennant. September- We put together a 7 game win streak on September 10th we're 92-52 and have 1.5 game lead on the Mets. We lost SS Ed Brinkman for a couple of weeks but he wasn't playing that great anyway, Campaneris will hold it down till he gets back. On September 20th we're 97-56 and tied with the Mets. The Mets lose 4 in a row and heading into the last weekend of the season we're 102-57 and have a 3 game lead. We win the 1st game of our final series of the season against the Braves to clinch the division. That felt good. We finish the season 104-58 to win the division by 3 games. Ironically, we lost on the final day of the season to the Braves and that clinched the West for them as they beat the Giants by a game in their own heated rivalry for the West title. The Braves finished 92-70. The Yankees and White Sox will renew their rivalry in the AL as both teams won their divisions going away, the 99-63 Yankees by 16 games over Boston and the 109-53 White Sox by 20 games over the Angels and Twins. For the first time maybe forever, we have nobody on the offensive leader boards. Lafayette with a 2.93 ERA is 3rd in baseball and Raich with a 2.94 is 4th. Jenkins 201 Strikeouts is 9th. This is clearly a team built on pitching and small ball at the moment. We only lost $75K this year so that's a bright spot. Bad news as Currence Lafayette broke his ankle and will miss the postseason, he and Raich were going to go 1-2 in the LCS, super bleh. On the bright side, Richie Hebner will return for the playoffs. Bill Almon will shift back to 2B and Javier will go to the bench. We're gonna go with Jenkins, John & Raich for the first 3 games of the NLCS and then take it from there. Our lineup is a bit of a mish mash but Bumbry, Almon, Matthews, Hebner, Luzinski, McCarver, Speed, Brinkman is how we'll go. We get very good news when we learn that because of a blister, Nolan Ryan will miss the NLCS. I can live without facing him. |
07-19-2013, 07:37 PM | #305 |
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1975 Phillies Hitting
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07-19-2013, 07:38 PM | #306 |
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1975 MLB HITTING
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07-19-2013, 07:38 PM | #307 |
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1975 MLB PITCHING
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07-19-2013, 07:39 PM | #308 |
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* 1975 MLB Career Milestones * Maury Wills, White Sox, 500 Stolen Bases Luis Tiant, Yankees, 300th Win Tom Seaver, Angels, 250th Win Steve Carlton, Reds, 250th Win Vada Pinson, Dodgers, 1500th Run Mickey Lolich, Orioles, 3000th Strikeout Jim Derrington, Giants, 250th Win Tommy John, Phillies, 250th Win Bob Gibson, Orioles, 5000th Strikeout Maury Wills is giving it his best go, but at 3677 hits, he's still 512 hits away from Ty Cobbs all-time record. He's 42 years old and would need 3 very good seasons to break the record. I don't think he's getting it. Harmon Killebrew seemed set to break Babe Ruths all-time home run record but he only hit 11 this year and stands at 688, 26 away from the record. He may reach it, but he's 39 and was a part time player this year. He'll be a free agent at years end has been supplanted as Atlantas 1st basemen by Jim Breazeale. I think he can break it if he can find a place to get some playing time over the next couple years. |
07-20-2013, 09:56 AM | #309 |
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1975 NLCS In game one, Jenkins matched up with Al Autry. In the second inning, tied at 1-1, Tim McCarver would blast a 2 run homer and Jenkins & Matthews delivered RBI singles to give us a 5-1 lead. The Braves would widdle the lead down to 5-4 before chasing Jenkins in the 7th but our pen delivered 2.2 innings of shutout ball despite Bill Champion running into a bit of trouble in the ninth. Tim McCarver would add another two run shot in the 9th for insurance as we win it 7-4 and take a 1-0 series lead. In game two, Bobby Pfeil and Neil Lewis would deliver RBI singles in the 5th off of Tommy John to stake the Braves to a 2-0 lead. We came right back in the top of the 6th to score 3 runs off Braves starter Neil Lewis on an RBI double from Matthews and sacrifice flies from Hebner and Luzinksi. An RBI single by Earl Williams in the bottom of the 6th tied it at 3-3 and that's the way it stayed until the 10th when Gary Matthews took Roger Hambright into the right field seats for a solo homer to give us a 4-3 lead that Bill Champion would make stand as we win it 4-3 and hold a 2-0 series lead as we head back to Philly. Game three was a hell of a thing. Eric Raich faced off against Jerry Robertson and we owned a 1-0 lead going into the 7th when Brian Downing would connect off of Raich for a two run homer to give the Braves a 2-1 lead. It stayed that way as we headed to the bottom of the ninth. McCarver led the inning off with a single off of Braves closer Roger Hambright, Bert Campaneris would pinch run and reach 2nd with 2 outs. Lou Piniella came up to pinch hit and took one the opposite way, into the right field seats for a walk off, two run, series winning homer. Hallelujah! We'll take on the defending champion White Sox who blew past the Yankees in 3 games in the ALCS. They've got a mighty middle of the order in LF Willie Horton, RF George Hendrick and 1B Costen Shockley. Amos Otis at the top of their order is a giant threat as well. Their 2B, Maury Wills is out with a broken ankle and has been for most of the 2nd half of the season. On the mound they're led by Ron Guidry, Tom Griffin and a young John Tudor. I think we're clearly the underdog in this series but not overly so, it'll be a damn fun match up. We get some very good news when we learn that Jim Rice will be cleared to play in game 3 of the series. That will be huge for us. |
07-20-2013, 09:59 AM | #310 |
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1975 World Series Game one pitted Fergie Jenkins vs Ron Guidry and it did not go well for us. The Sox scored 3 times in the top of the first, 2 of which came on a George Hendrick homer. It wouldn't get much better for us as they chased Fergie after just 5 innings and 7 runs. Guidry would go the distance, getting the shutout in a 7-0 White Sox win to give them game one of the series. We had our backs against the wall in game twos showdown between Tommy John and Tom Griffin as Griffin stymied us through 5 innings and took a 3-1 lead to the bottom of the 6th. With 2 outs and the bases empty, Matthews would single and Hebner would take Griffin deep for a 2 run homer to tie the game at 3-3. Our bullpen was great as they held the Sox until the bottom of the 11th when with 1 out, Carew and Bumbry singled, and Bill Almon delivered the game winning single up the middle to give us a 4-3 win and even the series as we head to Chicago. That was big. Jim Rice returns for game 3 and we're going to remove Horace Speed from the roster to make room. Horace has played well, I just think we're gonna need Matthews & Luzinskis power more if we want to beat the White Sox. In game three, Eric Raich squared off against John Tudor and it was all about Tudor today. They would score two runs, one of them unearned, in the bottom of the 1st and that was all they would need. Tudor held us hittless through 7 innings, finally allowing a hit and a run in the 8th but Jack Kucek, in relief, allowed two runs in the 8th. Tudor would close out the 4-1 win as he went the distance and gave them a 2-1 series lead. We went with Jenkins to face against Guidry with our backs to the wall in game four and Fergie came through with flying colors. A Jim Rice RBI single and a Luzinski two run homer in the top of the first inning gave us a 3-0 lead and that was all Fergie would need. He tossed 7 innings of 2 run ball and we chased Guidry in the 7th as we won it 5-2 to even the series. Tommy John and Tom Griffin squared off in game five and it was an awesome pitching battle as we took a 2-1 lead into the 8th inning before Mike Caldwell allowed a 2 out George Hendrick homer to tie the game. Undeterred, we would send 8 men to the plate in the top of the 9th inning and score 3 times off of Griffin & Enrique Romo. Champion would shut the door in the 9th and we won a pivotal game 5 by a 5-2 score to take a 3-2 series lead heading back to Philly. Eric Raich and John Tudor met in game six, a rematch of their game two encounter. Once again Tudor left us baffled. Raich kept it close through 6 innings but in the top of the 7th, a Joe Ferguson grand slam broke the game open. They would add 2 more runs off our pen and won it 7-1 as Tudor went the distance for the 2nd time in the series. It's all even at 3 games each as we head to game 7. Jenkins & Guidry took the mound for the deciding game seven showdown. It was scoreless into the 5th, when with two outs and a man on 2nd, Jenkins walked Guidry and allowed RBI singles to Amos Otis & Sonny Jackson to give them a 2-0 lead. That would be short lived however, as in the bottom of the inning, Bill Almon & Ed Brinkman each connected off of Guidry for solo shots to tie the game at 2-2. In the bottom of the 6th we broke it open. With 1 out, Rice doubled, Luzinski singled him home, Bill Almon singled, McCarver delivered an RBI groundout and Brinkman singled in the 3rd run of the inning to give us a 5-2 lead. Hebner would add an RBI single in the 7th to make it 6-2. Jenkins would leave after 8, having given up 3 runs on 8 hits. Bill Champion came on in the 9th with a 6-3 lead and with two out and two men on he got Sonny Jackson to pop up to short, giving us the win and the series. That was effin awesome. Bill Almon hit .342 and scored 6 times for an offense that was rather anemic in the series. Jenkins was far from his best but he won 2 games, Tommy John had a 2.08 ERA through 13 innings and Bill Champion had a win and 2 saves in the series. I honestly didn't think we had enough to beat Chicago, but i'm glad to have proven myself wrong. |
07-20-2013, 10:00 AM | #311 |
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1975 MLB STANDINGS
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06-30-2023, 11:59 PM | #312 |
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Man, outside of my MP FOF league, this might be funnest stretch I ever had with a sm. I should break this back out this summer.
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07-01-2023, 12:28 AM | #313 |
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Catching up with this one, I hadn't previously seen it but love the premise.
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